No. 11 Marks Beginning of Walters' Falter : Golf: Looking for her first LPGA title, she loses tournament lead with a bogey, then finishes tied for 11th at Los Coyotes.

No. 11 Marks Beginning of Walters’ Falter : Golf: Looking for her first LPGA title, she loses tournament lead with a bogey, then finishes tied for 11th at Los Coyotes.

By ROBYN NORWOOD

Sept. 30, 1991 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

BUENA PARK — The momentum swung on the 11th hole.

Pat Bradley’s sweep up the back nine at Los Coyotes Country Club took hold on No. 11, when her second shot left her with a six-foot birdie putt that tied her for the lead at nine-under par.

Lisa Walters, who was leading the field when she teed off Sunday afternoon at the MBS LPGA tournament, was coming up the fairway behind Bradley, in the next threesome.

No. 11 was where she began to unwind.

Walters had begun the day nine under and nervous. For the first time in her eight years on the tour, she was the leader on the final day. She stood on the verge of the first tournament victory of her career, but she folded.

Walters bogeyed No. 11, falling out of the lead after finding the bunker left of the green, then missing a short putt.

She bogeyed No. 12 after leaving a putt short.

She bogeyed No. 13, even though her first two shots on the 488-yard par-five hole were outstanding. But her ball took a bad bounce and she found herself in the bunker behind the green, finishing with a six.

All told, she bogeyed five of the last nine holes--and four of five in one stretch--to finish with a final round of 77, and a 41 on the back nine.

Nobody had a worse nine holes all day.

Afterward she smiled through watery eyes.

“I’m pretty upset,” said Walters, 31, who became a contender by shooting a 65 in the second round.

Walters finished tied for 11th place, which was worth $5,654. Bradley, who birdied five of the last 10 holes, qualified for the LPGA Hall of Fame with her victory, and earned $52,500.

Walters stood firm on the front nine Sunday, even though her game was shaky.

“I didn’t hit it very well on the front nine, I just got it in the hole,” she said.

Walters bogeyed No. 3, but birdied No. 4 to stay nine under. But she knew all was not well.

“I was scrambling to save pars.”

Even after losing a stroke on No. 11 and another on No. 12, she wasn’t too disheartened. But No. 13, where she started so well only to get caught in the back bunker, was a real setback.

“Probably her biggest disappointment was No. 13,” said Meg Mallon, who was in Walters’ threesome and finished tied for fourth. “She hit a super shot and got a bad bounce.”

The nerves, Walters knew, were showing.

“Then I got mad,” she said. “I thought maybe if I was mad, I’d play better than when I was nervous.”

Not necessarily. She parred 14, but bogeyed 15.

“No. 15, I hit a bad tee shot,” she said. “Every other one I could have saved. One bogey, maybe, was all I should have made today.”

Nerves can make themselves known in many ways.

“I left ‘em all short--probably nerves,” Walters said.

Mallon, who has broken into golf’s upper echelon this season, understands.

“Usually--I should know--the nerves show on the first few holes. She got through those with some solid putts. But all three in our group, no one could get a roll going. There are good rolls, and then there are this kind--bad rolls.”

Walters bogeyed No. 17, too, then walked up 18 and greeted the warm applause with a sheepish smile.

“It was still fun,” she said. “The gallery was clapping. But I’m glad it’s over. I’m ready to go home.”